PIAH MATER – UNDER THE SHADOWOF A FOREIGN SUN

(Andy Synn takes a look at the new album from Brazilian Prog-Death dynamos Piah Mater, out now)

We are, each of us, the sum total of many different things.

I am both my father and my mother, and through them their parents, grandparents, and so on, down through the years.

At the same time, I am also the totality of my choices, my experiences, and a variety of unpredictable epigenetic factors which combine to form my sense of “self”.

But we are also, all of us, more than these things.

As are Piah Mater.

Now no-one – least of all the band themselves, I’m sure – would deny that Piah Mater are heavily influenced by “classic” Opeth (the moody opening of “As Islands Sink” immediately makes this clear, even if you weren’t familiar with the band’s previous albums).

But I can promise that anyone who listens closely to Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun will discover there’s more to the band’s sound – which incorporates touches of early Anathema and Katatonia, as well as a large dose of Enslaved and/or Ihsahn, alongside the hefty helping of inspiration they take from Akerfeldt and co.

And while some may criticise the group’s decision to focus more on iteration rather than innovation, there’s more than one way to be “progressive”, and the proof here is all in the band’s absolutely stellar songwriting.

Take the aforementioned “As Islands Sink”, for example, whose gorgeously gloomy opening bars – soothing, sombre, and just a little bit sinister, all at the same time – eventually metamorphose into a stunning series of grandiose guitar riffs and swirling leads, shimmering keys and gargantuan growls, throughout which hints of those early melodies are threaded in subtle, sinuous fashion, all building to an atmosphere and distortion-heavy reprise of the song’s sublime introduction.

It’s a song full of drama and intrigue which, despite not reinventing the wheel, eloquently demonstrates the depth and ambition of the band’s progressive approach to structure and flow, something which the equally fantastic “Fallow Garden” – part Ghost Reveries, part Ruun, part After – then only expands upon over ten minutes of shadowy riffage, soaring melody, and eerie blackened embellishments (climaxing in a cathartic, saxophone-drenched, metallic freak-out of epic proportions).

However, for all their boldness and bombast, Piah Mater are smart enough to know when less is more, with not only the immersive instrumental interlude of “Macaw’s Lament” being perfectly placed both to act as a welcome breather and, in turn, enhance the subsequent impact of “In Fringes”, but also the latter track’s heavy focus on its non-heavy elements – in particular its broodingly bluesy, decadently jazzy sense of rhythm and melody, as well as its captivating clean vocals – allowing the band to further explore this side of their creative palette.

It’s also to the album’s credit that, despite totalling a full fifty minutes (not the longest record I’ve heard this year, but certainly one of the richest and most multi-layered) you never feel the length – either of the full record or of the individual tracks, most of which clock in at around (or above) the nine minute mark – something which I can only attribute to how organic and immersive the writing is, from the scene-setting opener all the way to the climactic pairing of the string-and-synth infused Prog Death of “Terra Dois” and the haunting melancholy and doom-laden majesty of “Canícula”.

Let’s face it, Piah Mater, obviously, aren’t the first band to ply their trades in these particular post-Opeth waters, but – on the evidence of Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun – they’re certainly one of the best.